Watch movement test support device



Aug. 25, 1959 F. DOSTAL 2,900,815

WATCH MOVEMENT TEST SUPPORT DEVICE Filed May 25, 1956 INVENTOR assists Patented Aug. 25, 1959 WATCH MOVEMENT TEST SUPPORT DEVICE Frank Dostal, Great Neck, N.Y., assignor to American Time Products, Inc, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Application May 25, N56, Serial No. 587,367

7 Claims. (Cl. 73-6) The instant invention relates to devices for testing the rate of watch movements and encased watches, and more particularly to that portion thereof in which the watch or movement is supported in relation to a microphone to pick up the beats of the balance wheel.

An object of the invention is. to provide a watch movement or encased watch holding mechanism with a built-in microphone adapted to hold movements and watches of various sizes in any and all of the positions in which watches are most commonly positioned in use, such as dial up or dial down in substantially a horizontal plane and the stern pendent to the right or left, and the stem up 'or down in a substantially vertical plane with the dial facing either to the right or left.

Still a further object is to provide a holding mechanism in which the watch or movement is resiliently clamped in position and, with the cover of the container of the mechanism in place, the holding mechanism can be positioned in any of the desired positions, on the faces of the container without danger of any injury to the movement or watch, for calibration in the various positions.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a watch or movement holding mechanism in which the microphone is mounted on one arm of the watch holding clamp so as to be substantially at the same distance from the balance wheel of the watch or movement being tested irrespective of the external dimensions of the movement under test, the movement being positioned in the clamp at different levels thereof in accordance with different ranges of such external dimensions.

A further object is to provide such a holding mechanism for rate measuring devices which is readily sealed against external and extraneous noises upon positioning the watch under test therein.

I accomplish the foregoing, and other, objects by providing a shelf on a side wall in the interior of the lower half of a closed container, preferably cubical with rounded corners and edges, on which a clamp of flat thin sheet metal is resiliently supported. The arms of the clamp are resiliently biased toward each other and each has side members with stepped edges from a point somewhat below the free, or top, end thereof extending toward the other clamp arm. The step treads are at increasing distances from the arms downward from the open top end of the clamp, thereby permitting the accommodation in the clamp of watches of the larger dimensions at the upper region of the clamp and those of smaller dimensions at the lower region thereof. Each step consists of a large and a small step, so that with the uncased movement resting on a pair of aligned small steps of the opposite arms, the hands of such movements will clear the inclined riser portions above the small steps between which it is clamped, eliminating all danger of striking the clamp arms or side members and possible damage to the hands of the movement. The pair of side members of the one clamp arm are substantially perpendicular thereto, while those of the other converge toward each other an amount sufficient to clear the side members of the first arm, so that the two arms tending to bend toward each other can have their side members overlap, as may be the case when a small watch or movement is supported on them. The free top ends of the arms are readily engaged between the thumb and a finger of one hand to increase or decrease the distance between the clamp arms as the need therefor arises, for example when inserting or removing the watch or movement under test. A crystal microphone is supported at a lower region of one of the clamp arms and between its side members at such a position that the dis tance from the hair spring of any watch supported in the clamp is substantially the same because of the stepping of the side members. The crystal microphone is connected to the conductors of a cable which passes through the bottom half of the container, for example at one of the rounded corners, the conductors being connected to a plug for further connection to the input of a watch rate indicator or recorder. Each free edge of the upper container half has an integral blade spring extending beyond it, so that the lower edge of the four blade springs readily enters the lower container half, and on pressing the cover down the four springs hold it in place. The closed container, with a movement or watch in the clamp, may then be lifted without any danger of the container accidentally opening and be placed on any face for the test in each of the various positions. The tight closure of the container, and the provision of a seal in the aperture through which the cable extends, seal the interior of the container substantially against all external noises which might interfere with the noting of the period of the balance wheel under test. About the bottom half of the container, I provide markings which indicate the particular position of the movement under test with the cube resting on the various surfaces of the container, the movement having originally been inserted into the clamp in a predetermined position of the dial and stem, for example dial up and stem pendent right.

An illustrative embodiment of the movement holder of my invention will now be described in detail with the aid of the appended drawing in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view on a section through the container with the cover slightly removed for clarity of illustration;

Figure 2 is a section along 22 of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a top view of the mechanism with the cover removed.

The watch movement holding device of my invention is housed within the lower half 1 of the container, the lower half being open at the top and adapted to receive the cover portion 2, the two portions forming substantially a closed cube with rounded corners 3. A formed plate spring 4, affixed to each of the four open side walls of the cover portion, as by rivets 5, projects beyond the edges 6 of the open sides and is adapted to snap into the interior of the bottom portion against its open side walls and to hold their free edges 7 tightly abutting the edges 6 of the cover side walls. The leading portions of the plate springs 4 are so formed as readily to enter the interior of the bottom portion on registering the cover portion therewith, but a slight firm push is required to snap them to the lower side walls and to engage edges 6 and 7 with each other. So closed, a cubical container results which will remain closed in the absence of a definite pull to separate the cover from the bottom portion. By way of example, the container 1, 2 of an actual embodiment is a 4-inch cube.

A bracket 8 is supported on one side wall 9 of the bottom container half 1 and extends parallel to and spaced from the bottom face 10 of lower container half 1. A clamp 11, of a thin flat metal composition such as Phosphor bronze, is of U-shape with its arms 12 and 13 biased toward each other and integral with the base member 14 thereof. A transverse metallic member 15 is integral with the clamp base member 14 and is supported on the bracket 8 by a pair of rubber feet 16 at its end regions, another similar rubber foot 17 support n the bottom member 14 on an extension 19 central of, and integral with, bracket 8 at substantially the vertical axis of the container. The upper and lower faces of the feet 16 and 17 are cemented, or otherwise permanently afiixed, to the lower surface end regions of the transverse member 15, the lower surface of the clamp bottom member :14 and the top surface of the extension 19 and the bracket 8. The rubber feet not only resiliently mount the clamp but also electrically isolate it from the'container walls, and are of such height also that on mechanical vibration of the clamp for any reason there is no striking of metal on metal. The arm 13 has a pair of side members 21 which extend toward the arm 12 and converge toward each other. Similarly, the arm 12 has a pair of side members 22 extending toward the arm 13, but these side members 22 are substantially perpendicular to the arm 12. Each of the side members 21 and 22 have their free edges in the form of a series'of major steps 23, each of which at its lower region has a minor step 24. While three such major steps 23 with their minor steps 24 are shown, there may be fewer or more thereof as preferred. From the top or open end of the clamp downward, the distance of the edge 25 of the successive major steps from the arm 12 or 13 from which it extends increases, that is, the edge 25 of the first step in the smallest distance, that of 25 is .larger, while that of 25 is the largest. Each major step 23, as also each minor step 24, is undercut from its tread at an angle of about 60 degrees, and the treads 26 of the minor steps are substantially equal. By way of example, the clamp 11 for a 4-inch cubical container may have a height to the tread of its upper step 23 of 2% the heights of the rise of the successive steps 23, 23 and 23 are 78', and /1 respectively, that of each of the minor steps 24, 24 and 24 is A3", and the distances to the integral clamp arm from the inner edges of the successive minor steps is Ms, /6" and M3, the lower region of the side member beyond the minor step 24 being 1%. When testing anuncased watch movement, the movement is clamped between the risers of a pair of opposite minor steps so that its hands, which may extend beyond the periphery of the movement, can extend freely beyond the treads of the steps between the pair of side members 21 of the arm 13 or the pair of side members 22 of arm 12. Each of the arms 12 and 13 at their free ends have an extension member 27 integral therewith beyond the tread of the uppermost major step 23, by which the arms may the movement is tested, is maintained substantially con-1' stant. The leads 29jfrom the microphone pass through an aperture 30, preferably in a corner of the container and sealed by an appropriate ring 31, of rubber for ex ample. The exterior portion of the leads terminates in a conventional plug 32 for insertion into the amplifier input of an appropriate watch rate testing apparatus, fort example that of US. Patent 2,155,646, issued April 25,'

1939,"to C. H. Fetter and J. B. Matthew's. About the four lateral walls of the bottom portion of the container,

I preferably provide markings indicating the particular position in which the movement in the clamp is being tested when the container is bottomed on the various faces of the cube.

In operation, the encased watch or the uncased movement, is clamped between a pair of aligned steps of the clamp with its diaLfor example, facing upwardly andits stem pendent to the left, and the container is closed. Thus, as viewed in Figure 1, with the cube resting on face 10, the watch or movement in the clamp will be tested with its dial up, DU, and its stem pendent left, PL. If now the container is rotated 180 degrees about an axis parallel to the plane of Figure 1, and bottomed on the face opposite to face 10, the movement or watch will be tested with its dial down, DD, and its stem pendent left, PL. Hence the container face toward the reader can conveniently be marked: DU, PL, DD. However, if the cube, originally resting on face 10, is rotated about an axis perpendicular to the plane of Figure l and placed on such face opposite face 10, the test position will be with the dial down, DD, and the stem pendent right, PR. Hence the rear face of the container as shown in Figure can be marked: DD PR DU. If the cube, resting originally on face 10 be rotated about-an axis perpendicular to the plane of Figure 1 through only degrees and be placed on face 9, the stem will be vertical and uppermost and the dial face to the right, etc., thus resulting in marking the face 9: DR PU DL, and the face opposite thereto as: DR PD DL.

As compared to prior art structures, the clamp housed in the tightly closed container of my invention has, inter alia, the feature of enabling rapid testing since the watch or movement does not have to be repositioned in the clamp for successive 'tests, and enables more accurate observation of the rate due to the absence of extraneous noise masking the beat as picked up by the microphone. What I claim is:

1. A holder for encased watches and uncased watch movements while testing the rate thereof, comprising a closed container having a bottom and a top portion, clampmeans resiliently supported within the bottom portion thereof and consisting of a flexible flat metal U-shapcd strip having a lower cross-piece, two arms spring biased towards each other and extending freely upward from the cross-piece and spaced from the container walls, a pair of like shaped lateral members extending from an inter mediate region of the edges of each arm in the direction of the other arm, and a plurality of steps in the free edge region of each lateral members, the steps of the arms being aligned in pairs and each pair of steps adapted to support watches and uncased movements of a predetermined range of outer dimensions thereon and the range differing for each pair, a microphone supported on the clamp: ing means, and leads from the microphone through the container for connection to a utilization circuit.

2. A holder according to claim 1 in which a shelf ex-, tending from a side wall of the bottom container portion resiliently supports the cross-piece, and the pair of lateral members of one arm are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the arm while the lateral members on the other arm converge toward each other in the direction of their free edge region.

3. A holder according to claim 1 in which each step of the plurality is composed of a major component having a large riser and tread and a minor component having a small iiser' and tread, the minor component being positionedbelow the major cornponent, and the riser of each step is inclined at substantially 60 degrees from its. tread. i

t. A holder for encased watches and uncased watch movementswhile testing the rate thereof, comprising a closed sontainer' having a bottom and a top portion, clamping means resiliently supported withinthe bottom portion theijreoffa plurality of steps on opposite faces of the clamping means 'and.alignedin pairs, each step of the plurhlity is.c omp 0sed of a 'major component having a large' ri ser andtreadland almin'or component having a riser a'n'd tre'ad,- the minor component being positi (1 below themajo'rcomponent, the riser of each step. being inclined ,atlsubstantially 60. degrees from its tread, a h Pa i te l e- 25 wanted to suPPQ t a ch n 'uncased movements of a predetermined range of outer dimensions thereon and the range differing for each pair, a microphone supported on the clamping means, and leads from the microphone through the container for connection to a utilization circuit.

5. A holder according to claim 4 in which the major components of the successive steps of the plurality vary progressively in the dimensions of both tread and riser while the minor components thereof are substantially of the same dimensions.

6. A holder according to claim 4 in which the bottom and top container portions are of metal, the clamping means is a U-shaped metal strip with a lateral flange integrally at each edge of the strip, the steps being formed in the flanges, and a lower cross-piece integral with the bottom of the U-strip is supported by a vibration absorbing member.

7. A holder according to claim 6 in which the vibration absorbing member is supported on a metal shelf projecting from a wall of the bottom container portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,133,789 Pool Oct. 18, 1938 2,687,511 Penniman Aug. 24, 1954 2,772,562 Kuwada Dec. 4, 1956 

